Shanghai is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. After decades of underinvestment, the city’s infrastructure is being renewed at breakneck speed. In 1997 the traffic in the city centre was gridlocked. Today, overhead freeways speed cars across the city; there are two new bridges across the Huangpo river, and a road tunnel under the river. Skyscrapers now dominate the skyline. The pace of change is almost frightening, and there are worries that it may not be sustainable: the level of ownership of private cars is rising at a phenomenal rate, leading to increased congestion and pollution, while the consequences of large-scale migration may not yet be fully understood.

The city owes its origins and its current wealth to trade. It started to grow 200 years ago when contact with foreign merchants developed. The older Chinese quarter is being flattened to build a new ‘period style’ centre for tourism. The famous waterfront built by European traders is well preserved, but the suburbs are submerged under ever more high-rise buildings. The city centre is overcrowded, so a new central business district has been constructed on the east bank of the river in Pudong, together with new specialised industrial zones, affluent residential areas and a new airport. Previously the area was relatively underdeveloped, because of the difficulty of crossing the river. Today Pudong is becoming a desirable place to live.

To provide a framework for a study of urban development, we look at a day in the life of three young people who owe their living to the new economic order:

• A young schoolgirl living with her family in the old part of the city on the west bank of the river. They are waiting to move into a new apartment when their current home is demolished.
• A young construction worker from Hebei province, who lives on the construction site which he rarely leaves.
• A girl who works for the Fuji Investment Bank based in Pudong. Well educated, she speaks English and Japanese, lives by herself, works hard and plays hard: a Shanghai ‘yuppie’.

00.00 — 01.00

Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world. Workers stream from the ferries crossing the Huangpo river. Shanghai is home to 50 million people. The old city is giving place to the new. Shanghai is a boom town on a building spree. China’s economy is expanding three times faster than Europe’s; and Shanghai is the spearhead of this change. Redevelopment is transforming the city and old communities are being replaced.

01.00 — 01.36

The lives of a schoolgirl, a migrant worker on a construction site, and a young professional working for a Japanese bank in Pudong are changing with the city.

01.36 — 01.44

Shanghai is first and foremost a port.

01.44 — 01.50

A map shows Shanghai and the course of the Yangtze, a highway for trade. Shanghai has been a gateway to foreign trade for over 700 years.

01.50 — 02.15

By the 1850s, foreigners in Shanghai were building trading posts along the waterfront, the Bund. Shanghai was one of the few Chinese ports where foreigners were allowed to live and trade. It flourished.

02.15 — 02.50

Foreigners built their own sections of town, which were ruled under foreign laws. These ‘Concessions’ were like colonies, where Westerners led separate lifestyles, excluding the Chinese from their clubs and parks. Many French and British colonial buildings remain today, giving the city a European feel in places.

02.50 — 03.06

Shanghai was once known as the Paris of the East, because it was so Westernised.

03.06 — 03.25

The Communist Revolution occurred in 1949. Mao expelled foreigners, and contact with the outside world was reduced. Shanghai became China’s most important centre for heavy industry.

03.25 — 03.44

Workers were housed in small blocks of flats built near the factories.

03.44 — 04.05

Times have changed. There are new buildings, a new political climate, and a new type of economy; shopping centres, office blocks and skyscrapers. China is trading with the rest of the world again, and industry is being restructured. A market economy is developing.

04.05 — 04.25

Some people are losing out in the changes. Farmers who work the fields just outside the city are losing land to the property developers.

04.25 — 04.45

Old homes and tenements are being destroyed to make way for a new tourist shopping centre.

04.45 — 08.00

Case study 1: The schoolgirl lives with her family in a two-room maisonette in the old part of town. It is one of four flats originally designed for a single family. It is not a poor household: both parents earn good wages in a factory. The girl sleeps in the same room as her parents. She does her homework downstairs. The rooms are too small to walk around in. She looks forward to moving and having her own room. She wants a computer, but there is no room here. When they move, life will be easier. A major drawback of these flats is their poor sanitation. Water for baths has to be carried in from outdoors and heated up; chamber pots must be emptied into a communal sluice in the street; wooden pails are used to collect sewage, which is recycled as fertiliser. There are public toilets near by. The girl wants a proper bathroom. New flats will be a big improvement on these tenements, but also a big expense for residents, who will have to pay for their own homes. Moving will change their way of life. They have lived here for ten years and have good relationships with their neighbours; in the new flats, neighbours may not be so close. They will be rehoused a long way from the city centre, and the girl will lose some of the friends she has grown up with — though they will try to keep in contact.

08.00 — 10.15

Case Study 2: Reconstruction requires large numbers of workers recruited from the countryside. Ding Yuanyuan, an electrician and welder, explains that he works from 7:30a.m. to 5:30p.m. and often works overtime. People work long hours, six or even seven days a week. He lives in a temporary dormitory on the site, sharing a room with three others. There is a canteen and a shop on the site, so he rarely leaves it. His life is organised for him. It is two months since he last went into the city centre. When the building is complete, he will have to return to his home. To stay in the city without a contract is illegal. Many migrant workers enter the city illegally, and make a living selling things on the street or on smaller building sites. They find accommodation in the poorer, overcrowded parts of the city. Periodically, illegal migrants are rounded up and sent back to their villages.

10.15 — 11.35

Case Study 3: Life is very different for the new breed of Shanghainese, such as the young woman working for Fuji International in Pudong. She lives in a spacious modern flat, and eats simple Western food. The pace of her life is faster. She wears fashionable clothes, and has a stereo, and pop posters on the walls. Ten years ago it would not have been possible for a young professional like her to live on her own in the city. She works in Pudong, the site of the most ambitious development scheme in Shanghai. Under the old system there were no international corporations here. Now there are many modern offices with modern facilities: 198 high-rise buildings have been erected in Pudong in less than ten years.

11.35 — 11.49

No site on the west bank is large enough, so the east bank of Pudong is being redeveloped, including a new central business district.

11.49 — 12.35

Ji Juan works as an executive for a Japanese merchant bank in a modern office block. The modern office equipment and environment is such as could be found in any modern city in the world. Ten years ago jobs like Ji Juan’s did not exist in China.

12.35 — 12.40

A high Television Tower has been erected in Pudong.

12.40 — 12.50

A map of Pudong shows the business centre and industrial zones, including sites for the pharmaceutical and electronics industries. Controlled zoning keeps pollution away from residential areas.

12.50 — 13.40

In Pudong there are green open spaces and golf courses, and new residential areas with detached houses for the growing middle class. The environment is cleaner, quieter and less crowded than on the west bank; and there are many shops. Ten years ago few people wanted to live here; now more and more are moving into Pudong.

13.40 — 13.50

Some skyscraper office blocks remain empty — but it is early days for Pudong.

13.50 — 15.50

Streets are busy and traffic heavy. For the new developments to work, people need to be able to travel around easily. Shanghai used to be known for its traffic gridlock, but in the past few years, new raised roads have been built above the main roads. More private cars are being bought, so congestion will increase again. Roads can be built quickly because planning controls are less rigid than in Europe. There are three new bridges and a new road tunnel crossing the river: previously the only way across was by ferry, which is too slow for people in a hurry. The underground train system is just five years old, and now includes a link under the river. Most people in the city are in a hurry these days, because ‘time is money’. The underground trains are crowded.

15.50 — 16.20

Ji Juan attends evening classes in economic law to keep on top of her job. Study is seen as a way towards promotion and success.

16.20 — 16.35

The schoolgirl also attends extra classes on Saturdays to help her prepare for her examinations, which are very competitive.

16.35 — 16.50

Ding also studies in his dormitory in the evenings after work, to improve his skills as an electrician.

16.50 — 17.00

Such is the frenzy that work on the construction site continues throughout the night.

17.00 — 17.40

Meanwhile, the newly prosperous youth of the city are out enjoying themselves, buying designer clothes in modern shops late into the evening. Consumer goods like these were unobtainable ten years ago, and few foreign goods reached China. The way people think has also changed dramatically: people seem more open-minded, less conservative than they were, willing to learn new skills.

17.40 — end

Shanghai is brightly lit at night. Yet twenty years ago there were no street lights at all: they would have been considered a waste of electricity. Now the city looks much like any other developed city. Nightlife used to be considered a decadent and shameful waste of time: now young people can dance and enjoy themselves in clubs. Ji Juan and her friends hire out a private room in a club for a karaoke party (very fashionable amongst young professionals). They work hard and play hard. The old ideal of working for the common good and for the family is being replaced by a new individualism and a desire for privacy and a modern Western lifestyle.